The invention relates to apparatus for metering a medicant into a water flow line, for watering farm animals and the like. There are many different types of medicators now on the market, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,084,712, No. 3,220,435, and an apparatus called "Medi-Cator" sold by Monoflow International, Inc. of McLean, Va. While such structures are useful for performing a desired function, oftentimes they are expensive to construct, requiring manual assembly of many component parts, a number of accessory structures project from various portions of the apparatus which projections can be damaged during transit and, in any event, are unsightly and cumbersome, and the volume taken up by such prior art structures for a given volume of medicant is often unacceptably high.
According to the present invention, a medicant proportioner has been provided, and a method of construction of same, which has numerous advantages over prior art medicant proportioners. The proportioner according to the present invention is made of plastic by injection molding, the entire structure being capable of formation by injection molding including passageways for the medicant and for directing the water flow to join with the medicant flow, resulting in lower manufacturing costs. Additionally, no awkward extensions from the basic container are provided, resulting in improved appearance and minimizing the possibilities of damage to the medicant proportioner during shipping. For a given volume of medicant, the apparatus according to the present invention has a much lower volume (e.g. about 40% less volume than a "Medi-Cator" device containing the same volume of medicant).
The apparatus according to the present invention includes the conventional components of a flexible bladder, a housing top portion, a housing bottom portion, means for receiving the bladder so that it is disposed between the housing top and bottom portions, a water flow conduit having a first branch thereof extending into the area between the bladder and the housing bottom to apply pressure to squeeze the bladder, and having a second branch passing past the housing; adjustable means for metering medicant between the bladder and the housing top portion into the water flow conduit second branch; and a flexible tube leading from the bladder interior to the medicant metering means. The form that any of such structures may take can be varied widely, any of the forms disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,084,712 and No. 3,220,435, or the form provided in the "Medi-Cator" medicant proportioner, being acceptable. The apparatus according to the present invention is improved in that the housing top and bottom portions are formed of injection molded plastic. Means defining the water flow conduit are formed integrally with the housing bottom portion, and means defining a medicant flow conduit from the flexible tube to the water flow conduit are formed integrally with the housing top and/or bottom portions. Such means defining the water flow conduit and the medicant flow conduit are preferably vertically extending raised portions of the housing top and bottom portions. Preferably, the water flow conduit second branch and the medicant flow conduit are defined by transparent material, the conduits being tapered and defining rotameters.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a container is provided having an integral top plastic housing portion and an integral bottom plastic housing portion. The bottom housing portion has a closed bottom and open top and a closed side, and includes means defining a through-extending opening therein at the bottom thereof; the plurality of fastener receiving members disposed around the periphery of the open top; a first raised portion on the side and having a first bore therein extending through the raised portion and the bottom housing portion side and having a second bore therein extending from the first bore to a point adjacent the open top, the second bore being substantially perpendicular to the first bore; a second raised portion on the housing portion side and having a third bore therein extending through the raised portion and the bottom housing portion side and having a fourth bore extending from the third bore to a point adjacent the open top, the fourth bore being substantially perpendicular to the third bore. The top housing portion has a closed top and an open bottom and a closed side and includes a plurality of fastener receiving members disposed around the periphery of the open bottom for cooperation with the corresponding members on the bottom housing portion; means defining first and second through extending openings in the closed top; a first raised portion on the housing top portion side having a fifth bore therein extending in the same direction as, and for cooperating with, the second bore, and a sixth bore therein extending generally perpendicular to the first and fifth bores and in communication with the fifth bore; and a second raised portion on the housing top portion side and having a seventh bore therein extending in the same direction as, and for cooperating with the fourth bore, and having an eighth bore therein extending in the same direction as and in communication with the sixth bore, and in communication with the seventh bore. Also, according to the present invention, a method of making the container described above is provided, the method comprising injection molding out of plastic both the integral bottom housing portion and the integral top housing portion, which portions may be later assembled together with a flexible elastic bladder received in sealing engagement therebetween.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a simplified construction of a medicant proportioner, and a simplified method of constructing the same. This and other objects of the invention will become apparent from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention, and from the appended claims.